Posts tagged sunburn

Sunburn fire ant hell itch is gone! I woke up yesterday morning and was feeling much better thanks to the hydrocortisone cream I was using. I hope I never experience that again. It was awful. MIND-NUMBINGLY AWFUL.

Well, its time for me to go to sleep. I have this amazingly adorable grunting baby sleeping in his co-sleeper right beside me. Time for me to nibble those chubby little cheeks and turn in for the night. I’ll be up in 2 hours to feed him…

Ohmygosh. Today I had HELL ITCH from the sunburn I got over the weekend. Now I’ve had plenty of sunburns before, and many much, much worse than what I got over the weekend. I’ve burned so bad in the past that I’ve blistered. There’ve been times not even an aloe plant helped; all I could do was curl up in the fetal position and shiver.

So this sunburn wasn’t nearly as bad as others I’ve had, but this is the WORST itch I’ve ever had, ever! Worse than chickenpox or pink eye. In fact, in all the time my husband has known me, I’ve only had 2 or 3 bad sunburns and none of them ever itched like this. It’s a DEMON ITCH. An INSANITY ITCH. It seriously felt like millions of little fireants were shredding their way through my skin. It was incredibly painful & itchy at the same time. I don’t know of anyone else who’s ever had this DEMON ITCH except my brother. Seriously, it was so bad that when I tried to ignore it, my skin would start twitching.

It’s an itch that will drive you to the brink of insanity.

If you’ve never had this DEATH ITCH, then you can’t comprehend how bad it hurts. I know I would have never understood until I actually experienced it. Fortunately, I googled it as soon as it started and learned this itch was unlike the typical sunburn itch most people feel as the burn begins to heal. The HELL ITCH is deep under the skin and feels like millions of little fire ant jaws are biting the deep layers of flesh and then someone poured acid into the open wounds. Scratching made it way worse. Lotion and even aloe gel only made me want to rip my skin off. I had to fight back tears just laying in bed. I felt like I was going to go crazy. I laid in bed and curled into a ball and tried to rotate my neck & shoulders in such a way that it would move the skin on my back and shoulders and calm the itch without me having to scratch. Didn’t work. It was awful. I’d never felt anything like it.

Researching on Google, however, told me that this was like an allergic reaction, so lotions and creams would NOT WORK, so take Benadryl and use an antihistamine cream like hydrocortisone cream. I only used the cream. At first it only made it worse. The itching intensified ten-fold and I entertained the idea of using a cheese grater to scrape the skin off my back. I was frantically slapping my back and biting my tongue to distract myself. Just when I thought I would start foaming at the mouth from the pain, I finally felt RELIEF. Not 100%, but enough to where the HELL ITCH became just an annoyance. Ho-ly crap. That itch was insane.

I’m still itching, although it’s not unbearable like it was this morning. I can’t lay on my back & I still can’t scratch the itch because it makes it worse. I have to make my hand like a claw and dig my fingernails into my skin without scratching or even rubbing it. It feels much better that way.

I love summer. And I love almost everything about summer. Almost. Definitely not the prolific number of bees. Or sweat stains. Or sunburn. Oh, and let’s not forget the humidity!

Summertime is filled with super awesome fun, however, like swimming and pretty blue skies. Some of the other really awesome things about summer are all the festivities going on. It seems like there’s something fun to attend every weekend with fairs and carnivals and festivals. We’re loving it!

So our most recent venture was to a festival in a neighboring city. It was awesome… there were stunt bicycle shows, laser tag games, all kinds of booths and vendors and games and food galore! We took both of the kids. Of course, Jonathan slept most of the time, but Nathan had a complete blast.

The first thing we did was watch a stunt bicycle show. Nathan loved it, especially the air stunts! Everytime one of the guys did an a jump or a flip in the air on his bicycle, Nathan would shout “YEAH!” with his arms raised triumphantly over his head. He and Paul stood right up front, and I loved seeing them with each other. Such a sweet sight.

I loved watching Nathan’s reaction more than I enjoyed the show, haha. I just love seeing him have fun.

So after the stunt show, we walked around for a bit. Nathan played t-ball a few times at one of the booths and let’s just say the kid definitely needs some practice! After that, we made our way over to the concession stand and gorged ourselves on some delicious food. (What is it about festival/fair/carnival food? It’s so-o-o good!) I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible because I’m so fair-skinned that I tend to burn really bad, really fast.

After our lunch, Nathan spied this jumper thingy. They put you in a harness that attaches to some sort of pole above you, and you jump on these giant air pads. You can really get going, too. Some people were even doing flips. So anyway, Nathan saw it and begged to jump, even after being told he’d have to wait in that long line.

I made my way over to a shaded area to change the baby’s diaper and feed him, and Paul stood with Nathan in line. By the time I was done, Nathan had successfully stood in line with his daddy (about half an hour) and did the jumping thing. He never went as high as the other kids, but he had a blast regardless! He did great for his first time!

By the time he was done, we’d already been there a couple hours and needed to head home because it was really HOT outside. On our way out, Nathan begged to play in the playground. After that, as we walked to the car, we passed some vendors who had put some sidewalk chalk out, so Nathan and I drew some smiley faces before trekking back to the car. He grabbed my hand and held it, and my heart may have swelled to near-explosion size because of all the love it holds. So he had so much fun that day! We all did!

I, on the other hand, got burned. Figures! (The picture is my shoulder and the white stripe you see is where my shirt was.) I hate sunburn! I’m kicking myself for forgetting sunscreen. Nathan and Paul got a little sun, but barely… nothing like mine!

I’m so excited about all the things we’ll be doing this summer. Especially since we’ll be living in a house that’s near parks, museums, restaurants, you name it!